Stephan Spencer on The Studio D - Geek Interview (Pt. 1)

This is a clip of Stephan’s interview about Geek Interview (Pt. 1) on The Studio D.

Welcome back to Studio D. Well, let's admit it. I can come off as kind of a geek here and there—geek nerd, however, you want to term it. However, I wanted to make sure and learn from an expert about how I can make being a geek something positive. So, here to verify my geekiness is author and podcaster Stephan Spencer. How are you?  

Tom Hanks is so into space; he's the ultimate space geek.

Yeah.

Rosario Dawson is a Trekkie, a Star Trek geek. Leonardo DiCaprio is a Star Wars geek who is so into Star Wars that he has so many Star Wars collectibles taken so much room in his house. He donated them all to charity.

I didn't know that about him. See, now I'm learning something about that.

Now, in fact, 87% of all people surveyed say they do not feel the need to sneak their geek anymore. People are prouder than ever before to be geeks. And now we're /going to learn if you're a geek and if your audience members are geeks, too.

Let's go through this. I'm sure I can check off a few of these boxes, right?

So this is the geek quiz. Okay, here we go. Question one: Let's do question one. Do you own a drone or any kind of robot, including a Roomba?

Let's see. I have an R2D2 that follows me around and talks to me, and I have a little mini drone that I fly around my apartment.

Awesome. Okay. Question two: Are you like Leo and have, and are you really into, uh, collectibles and geek toys?

Do my Megazord, Dragonzord, Alfdoll, do all those count?

Perfect. Totally. Okay. Yep. Question three. Do you have more than 50 apps installed on your phone?

Oh, yeah. Most of them I try to slim down and make sure I'm using them, but yes.

Okay, you're a tech geek, then; that's awesome. Question four: Is your movie, music, video game book, or comic book collection a source of pride?

YES! YES!  

You should, you should see, you should see the binders of DVDs, I'm very proud of them.

Okay, question five: Do you wear character clothing, except on Halloween, including pajamas?

See, I wear the T-shirts as pajamas.

Geek! Okay, you're, you're totally in. You're in the club now. Okay, question six. Have you ever been to Comic Con, VidCon, or WonderCon?  

I've been to two Trek conventions, MegaCon and Star Wars Celebration.

Boom. Okay. Question seven: Do you wear a smart watch, smart glasses, or a fitness tracker?

I do have a fitness tracker, yes.

Okay, this is the telltale one right here. Have you ever taught yourself an artificial language like Klingon or Elvish?

No, but I have talked like a minion more times than I'd like to admit.

Okay, that still counts. Okay. Okay, question nine. Have you ever seen more than two Harry Potter, Star Wars, or Star Trek movies?

Yeah, all of them. All right, all of the above.

Okay, of course. Final question. Have you ever named a computer? Pet or child after a superhero comic character  

No, not yet. But I do plan on getting a dog and naming him Jarvis after Tony Stark's computer assistant.

Oh my god. Okay, so One, yes, and you're possibly a geek, two yeses, you're probably a geek, three yeses or more, and you're definitely a geek.

I figured that It's official now.

Awesome. Now that we know that, let's learn how to optimize your inner geek with the geek formula. Are you ready to go?

Let's make this a positive, yeah.

Okay, so G, gratitude. When I interviewed Harville Hendrix on the Get Yourself Optimized podcast, he said the most important thing for your relationship is to express three things that you appreciate about your significant other every day.

He's been doing it for the last 18 years with his wife. Hasn't missed a day yet. I've been doing it for the last eight months with my fiancé. It's already had a huge difference. So, it's a great way to optimize your inner geek.

Definitely need to work on that.

Okay. So, E, establish habits. Positive habits, like gratitude, yoga meditation and mindfulness.

Establishing habits and keeping them is a great way to optimize your inner geek. The next E, examines everything. Byron Katie told me to question every one of your thoughts because a lot of times your thoughts aren't even true, right? That kind of critical thinking is a great way to optimize your inner geek.

And then, finally, K. Knowledge is power. Keep learning. A big reason why I have my podcast, Get Yourself Optimized and interview all these New York Times bestselling authors and world experts is because I want the knowledge for myself. I know that being my best person, my best self is all about learning. And I hope all my listeners do the same. So that's how you optimize your inner geek.

Okay. Now, tell me how you optimized yours. Now we have a picture of before you started taking this path and after, and there's a big difference. So, is that how you applied being a geek to your own life?

Yes. So, I went to Tony Robbins' seminar, and I walked on fire. And after that, that was the impetus for me to make all of these books—essentially a big life reboot. Over the course of the last five or six years, I've made all these changes, but really, in the first year, I became literally unrecognizable from the person that you saw in the before photo.

What's the biggest change that you say you applied overall to your life? After finally breaking everything down and kind of teaching yourself this method, what did you take away from it as your biggest change?

My biggest change, my biggest change was in India, actually. It was on a Tony Robbins platinum trip, and I had this amazing spiritual experience. I got touched by the oneness monks and it was a profound experience. Everything was in technicolor. It was amazing.

Well, when we come back, when we get a head start on the day, we'll be chatting about how one phone is really lighting the business world on fire, and we'll be back with Stephan later. Take care.

And we're going to go with an Iron Man off. If you think I'm not a geek, I've got my own helmet over there. And find out who the world's new, most interesting man is. And see if we'll drink to that. That and more when Studio D returns.

  • Show Buttons
    Hide Buttons